PHOTO STORY: Vandalia hosts annual Underground Railroad Days

Published 4:15 pm Monday, July 15, 2024

By Max Harden

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VANDALIA — Cass County’s history and connection to the Underground Railroad was on full display for visitors and community members alike Saturday and Sunday.

The Village of Vandalia and the Underground Railroad Society of Cass County hosted the annual Underground Railroad Days Saturday and Sunday, July 13 and 14 with activities centered around Milo Barnes Park on M-60 in Vandalia.

Hundreds of people visited the event that celebrates the legacy of the Underground Railroad in Cass County, particularly the area around Vandalia – Calvin, Porter and Penn Townships – known as “Young’s Prairie” at the time.  The UGRR existed in this area from 1830 to 1860 and it is estimated about 1,500 fugitive slaves passed through this area on their way to Canada. Many stayed for a time and worked on Quaker farms. They were targets of the infamous 1847 Kentucky Slave Raid.

“I am very proud,” said URSCC Secretary Nancy Neff. “It says a lot about our people, our community and the way they welcomed the freedom seekers. They were welcome to stay here, which many of them did and their descendants are still here. They were also welcome to stay, rest, earn some money and move on if they wished.”

The Village of Vandalia sponsored arts and crafts booths and the URSCC sponsored guided tours of Kentucky Raid sites and tours of UGRR sites James E. Bonine House, the Bonine Carriage House and the Stephen Bogue House. The 102nd US Colored Troops presented a “living history” encampment on Saturday and the annual car show was also held. New this year was the opening of Brownsville School No. 1, an integrated one-room schoolhouse believed to have opened in the early 1840s that was recently acquired by URSCC. The schoolhouse is thought to be one of the longest-running integrated schoolhouses in the country, having served students from the early 1840s to 1956, when Brownsville students were consolidated into Cassopolis Public Schools.

Rather than restore the school as originally planned, URSCC will preserve the c. 1840 original building. It will repair the foundation, roof, floor, windows and anything else that needs repair, but will keep the original structure as is, as much as possible. Those wishing to donate can do so on www.brownsvilleschool.org or www.urscc.org or send a check to URSCC PO Box 124, Vandalia, MI  49095.

For Neff, a Vandalia resident whose father grew up in Vandalia and played in the Bonine House as a child, Underground Railroad Days is near and dear to her heart.

“It makes me happy that we can share the history, because until we got the Bonine House and really started getting in and researching, I don’t think a lot of people in the area knew about it; it was new to everybody. Just sharing the history. I love sharing the history with everybody and hearing people share their history back with me. I learn as much from the people that come and talk to me and want to take tours.”

The URSCC’s 20-site self guided driving tour maps can be obtained in Milo Barnes Park in Vandalia, or online. More information on Underground Railroad Days, the role Cass County played in the UGRR and how to get involved can be found on www.urscc.org.

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